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Congressional hearings would allow people to testify about the ways in which having a psychiatric diagnosis has been harmful or helpful to them. This could be a major step leading toward exploration of ways to retain helpful aspects while reducing harmful ones. Because psychiatric diagnosis is so deeply embedded in many major systems, including the mental health system, health insurance systems, government (Medicare and Medicaid), training programs for therapists, the legal system, pharmaceutical companies, and others this kind of national conversation is essential as a way to come to understand the various ways that psychiatric diagnosis is used and what systems are most open to making changes that would reduce the harm that is done.

We hope that after reading the information on this website, readers will contact their United States Senators and Representatives and members of state legislatures, express their concerns, and ask them to take steps to protect the public.  Members of Congress can help by making congressional hearings happen.  Members of State Legislatures could, among other things, investigate ways to introduce legislation that would ensure that the discipline bodies for psychiatrist, psychologists, social workers, and other psychotherapists will take responsibility for being fully informed about psychiatric diagnosis and for fully informing their patients.  (see also the Lawsuits section of this site.)

Co-Endorsers:

Original Groups/Organizations

Ablechild: Parents for a Label & Drug Free Education
Contact: Patricia Weathers, President
www.ablechild.org
A national non-profit, organization with more than 1,000 members, incorporated in New York, whose mission is to increase public awareness of subjective labeling and drugging of children; it advocates and lobbies for laws strengthening "Informed Consent" and a person's "right to refuse" psychological testing and services via education.

Accountability Caucus
A national organization of mental health "clients" involved in advocacy and accountability to the values of the "client culture.
Contact: Andrew Phelps [email protected]
P.O. Box 8466, San Jose, CA 9515
http://www.madman-bbs.net/accountability

ALEPPOS Foundation
An on-line organization that discusses current issues.
Contact: Irene E. Lynch [email protected]
39 Fairway East
Colts Neck NJ 07722-1418
(732) 946-4489

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)
Promoting Openness and Full Disclosure
Contact: Vera Sharav, President [email protected]
212-595-8974
www.ahrp.org
The Alliance for Human Research Protection (AHRP) is a national network of laypersons and professionals dedicated to advancing responsible, transparent, and ethical medical research practices. Through its information, advocacy, and dogged questioning of public officials, AHRP has been credited with significantly advancing the debate on the credibility crisis in medical research. We believe that all medical diagnoses should be held to rigorous scientific standards.

Altitudes for Community Excellence, Inc.
Contact: Sonya Muhammad [email protected]
375 South Main Street, Suite 220, Pomona, Ca. 91766
www.ace-inc.org
(909) 622-3535

Association for Medical and Therapeutic Self-Determination (MeTZelf)
P.O. Box 761
1180 AT Amstelveen, the Netherlands
T +31-20-6404690
Contact: Mira de Vries, Chairperson [email protected]
www.metzelf.nl
MeTZelf is an association based and legally registered in the Netherlands, though we also have members in neighboring Germany and (Flemish) Belgium. We maintain contacts with a number of international organizations which share, at least in part, our goals and values. We aim to increase freedom in health care by restoring autonomy and self-determination to health care consumers. We receive no outside funding whatsoever, and have no ties to any industry, political party, religion, or other interest group.

Association for Women in Psychology
www.awpsych.org

Attitudes for Community Excellence, Inc.
Contact: Sonya Muhammad
www.ace-inc.org
(909) 622-3535

Canadian Women's Health Network.
Contact: Madeline Boscoe [email protected]

Center for Medical Consumers
130 Macdougal Street
New York, New York 10012-5030
(212) 674-7105

Chemical Sensitivity Disorders Association
Contact: Lawrence A. Plumlee, M.D., President [email protected]
Bethesda, Maryland
Collective of Medical Doctors and Citizens against the Degrading Treatments of Psychiatry.
http://www.moratoirepsy.com
The Chemical Sensitivity Disorders Association is small non-profit organization in the Baltimore-Washington area which works to assist those with chemical sensitivity.

Coalition against Psychiatric Assault
Contact: Don Weitz [email protected]
CAPA is a coalition of activists, psychiatric survivors, dramatists, academics, and professionals committed to dismantling the psychiatric system. "We see problems in living which are currently pathologized as largely created by sexism, capitalism, racism, ableism, and other systemic oppressions. We see the very concept of mental illness as flawed. We object to incarceration, electroshock, and the vast array of brain-damaging drugs. We oppose the violation of human rights which is endemic to psychiatry. We see a connection between globalization, intolerance, and the mass marketing of the mental health industry. The world which we strive to co-create is one where people are not pathologized, where care is neither commodified nor professionalized, where choice and integrity are respected, and where we are all joined in caring and creative community to each other and to the planet earth." CAPA does education and strategic nonviolent resistance.

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Pennsylvania
1101 Peach Street
Erie, PA 16501
717-441-4910

Domestic Violence Institute
Colorado
Contact: Lenore Walker [email protected]

Drug Watch
http://www.drugwatch.com

Drugwatch.com is a comprehensive Web site featuring extensive information about medications, drug interactions, and drug side effects. The most recent drug alert is from Accutane, which can cause severe depression, suicidal thoughts, Crohn’s Disease, Liver damage and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. See Accutane Lawsuit for additional information.

 
Erie County Community Support Program
237 Goodrich Street
Erie, PA 16508
814-459-0741

Freedom Center
Run by and for people labeled with severe 'mental illnesses.' Freedom Center works for human rights, true informed consent, and holistic alternatives, and believes all treatments should be voluntary. Freedom Center works to provide accurate information about the dubious nature of psychiatric diagnoses, and help people take responsibility for their lives and learn their own unique path to recovery.
Contact: Will Hall [email protected]
P.O. Box 623
Northampton, MA 01061
(413) 582-9948
http://www.freedom-center.org

Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change [email protected]
Barry Duncan, Co-Director
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
954-721-2981
"Diagnosis is unreliable, not valid, does not select treatment, and often diminishes clients and their strengths and resources. We have written about the empirical and clinical pitfalls of diagnosis and the rest of the Killer Ds (deficit, disease, disorder, dysfunction, disability, etc.)."

LABEL ME SANE PRODUCTIONS (a non-profit corporation)
Contact: Alesandra Rain, V.P. [email protected]
30765 Pacific Coast Hwy.#266
Malibu, CA 90265

Mental-Health-Advocate
237 Goodrich Street
Erie, PA 16508
814-217-1920

The Mental Patients Liberation Alliance
Contact: George Ebert, Coordinator [email protected]
The Mental Patients Liberation Alliance is a selfhelp, peer support, and advocacy organization of, by, and for people who have been stigmatized as "mental patients". The Alliance began in Syracuse in 1972, incorporated as a not-for-profit in 1983, and received New York State funding to open an advocacy, education and social Center in Syracuse in 1986. The Alliance is a statewide organization with several hundred registered members and self-declared members. The Alliance offers a 24/7 peer support telephone line (1-800-654-7227) that receives an average of 700 calls per month.

Mind Aid
New York, NY
Founder: Rita DiCarlo [email protected]

Mindfreedom.org
http://www.mindfreedom.org
MindFreedom Support Coalition International is an independent non-profit uniting 100 sponsor groups to win human rights & alternatives in mental health. Accredited by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Consultative Roster Status.

National Action Network, Kansas Chapter
Contact: James Nordlund, Communications Director [email protected]

National Association of Hispanic Nurses
www.thehispanicnurses.org

National Association for Rights Protection & Advocacy
Contact Person: Leah Harris ([email protected])

New York Organization for Human Rights and Against Psychiatric Assault
Contact: Tina Minkowitz [email protected]

The One Click Group
Contact: Jane Bryant [email protected]
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk
A Pressure Group for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
World Health Organisation classification ICD-10 G93.3
One Click works to benefit and to deliver the voice of the ME/CFS community
throughout the world, both on the internet and in the field. It carries
breaking ME/CFS news, information and archive resources. They cooperate internationally with other organisations and individuals worldwide to benefit patients.

Our Bodies Ourselves Collective (Boston Women's Health Book Collective)
Boston, MA

Patients Rights Advocacy Waikato Incorporated
Contact: Anna deJonge [email protected]
65 Tawa Street
Hamilton 2001
New Zealand
Ph:Fax: + 64 7 8435 837
Empowering people with information and knowledge is a key objective of patients Rights Advocacy Waikato Incorporated. The Society provides community education and patients advocacy services on a wide range of health related and medical issues. Membership is currently about 500 including a number of law firms, health practitioners and organizations with an interest in patients advocacy. Funding is by subscriptions, donations and grants.

People Who
Sylvia Caras, President [email protected] www.peoplewho.org
People Who provides internet advocacy and support resources for people who
experience mood swings, fear, voices and visions. Our website receives perhaps 10,000 hits a week. Our email announcement list goes to 250 primary subscribes and is circulated widely.

Pharmawatch [email protected]
Contact: Colleen Fuller
PharmaWatch is a (Canadian) consumer advocacy group dedicated to strengthening and promoting the role of consumers in patient safety, specifically through the reporting of adverse drug reactions. We believe that direct-from-consumer reporting of adverse drug effects promotes consumer empowerment in the field of health. Increased consumer/patient involvement in drug safety supports more
informed decisions about prescription medicines, and can lead to more effective and safe use of medicines.
"We believe that psychiatric diagnosis should be better regulated to protect
patients' rights, including the right to be fully informed of the
limitations of the diagnostic labels that are used to support treatment recommendations."

Prozac & Antidepressants Alert Networks
This is a free email and telephone self-help facility intended to be of service to people suffering adverse reactions to SSRI medications. Its founder is an advisor, not a physician, and derives all advice from reliable and regularly updated medical information.
Contact: Linda Hurcombe [email protected]

PsyACT (Psychologists Acting with Conscience Together)
PsyACT is a global coalition for justice and wellbeing. We aim to raise awareness about the social injustices that impact social and psychological wellbeing, negatively affect quality of life, and dis-empower community residents. We promote action by psychologists, counselors, and other concerned citizens around the world to address issues that affect individual and community well-being through letters to editors, campus actions, teach-ins, & community activities.
Scot D. Evans & Isaac Prilleltensky
PsyACT co-founders

Safe Harbor
The world's leading nonprofit for education about non-drug approaches to mental health. It is based in Los Angeles and "has the Internet's largest web site on the topic at www.AlternativeMentalHealth.com."
Contact: Dan Stradford [email protected]
"The use of psychiatric diagnoses so recklessly causes untold demoralization and trouble…. a huge number of people have psychiatric symptom due to medical problems and they are misdiagnosed routinely with DSM diagnoses because psychiatrists are taught little on how to look for them."

Society for Menstrual Cycle Research
Contact: President: Susan M Cohen, DSN, APRN [email protected]

Wisconsin Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association [email protected]
The Wisconsin Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Association incorporated as a
501 c 3 in 1987. Is a clearinghouse for CFS information within Wisconsin; assists patients and their families; encourages communication among agencies, institutions and
concerned individuals; and promotes research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
"Psychiatric bias hinders our trench work and harms patients suffering
from ME-CFS, an illness recognized as neurological by the WORLD HEALTH
ORGANIZATION and by the United States Social Security Administration."
Contact: Pat Fero, Executive Director

Wisconsin Lyme Resource Group [email protected]
Jeanette Wheat, RPh, MBA, Resource Manager
PO Box 620193
Middleton, WI 53562
608-798-4421

Groups Added via Web Form

Original Individual Endorsers

George W. Albee, PhD, [email protected]
Emeritus Professor, U. of Vermont and Courtesy Professor, FL Mental Health Institute.
Home: 7157 Longboat Dr. N.,
Longboat Key, FL 34228.

Deborah G. Alicen, Ph.D. [email protected]

Robin Anderson
1055 Rolling Woods Lane
Lakeland FL 33813
863/644-3410

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD [email protected]

Gary Bell [email protected]

Louis S. Berger
4118 Cliff Oaks
San Antonio, TX 78229-3535
210.525.1770

Dr. Steve Bergman, Psychiatrist
Also novelist under pen name of Samuel Shem, author of House of God
and Mount Misery

S. Megan Berthold, Ph.D., LCSW, CTS
Therapist and Director of Research & Evaluation
Program for Torture Victims
Also has a family member who has been in the mental health system
3655 S. Grand Ave., #290
Los Angeles, CA 90007
213-747-4944 ext. 249
www.ptvla.org

Celeste Bevers [email protected]
Psychotherapist and social worker

Melinda Blau [email protected]
journalist and book author, Northampton, MA

Gerald L. "Moss" Bliss, D.D. [email protected]
Group leader, Recovery, Inc., and NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) Care

Paul Block, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist and Co-Director, Psychological Centers
401-842-0428

Lisa Blumenfeld LCSW [email protected]
Berkeley, CA

Neal Blumenfeld MD [email protected]
Berkeley, CA

Aviva Bock CCMHC LMHC [email protected]

Elaine Boutton-Peth [email protected]
Cleveland, OH

Betty Bradford [email protected]

Charlotte Bunch [email protected]
Director, Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University

Jerome A. Caplan, real estate developer
Springfield, MO

Tac Caplan, M.A., mental health counselor
Springfield, MO

Sylvia Caras, President of "People Who"

Therese Caron
Maynard, MA.

Gertrude (Trudy) Carter, C.S.W. [email protected]
Director of Psychological Services for Students at Bennington College

Gennaro Caserta [email protected]
Rome, Italy

William Chase, LICSW [email protected]

Phyllis Chesler, PhD [email protected]
Cofounder of National Women's Health Network
Cofounder of Association for Women in Psychology
Author, Women and Madness and of Mothers on Trial.
212-369-2412

Joan Chrisler, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Connecticut College
New London, CT

James D. Christiansen,
537 Bodem Street
Modesto, CA 95350
"Someone with friends who share this view, who have been affected professionally and personally by diagnostic labels, as I have been myself."

David Cohen, Ph.D.
Professor of Social Work
School of Social Work and Policy Management
College of Health & Public Affairs, HLS-II
Florida International University
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, FL 33199
305-348-4599

Lisa Cosgrove, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor
Department of Counseling and School of Psychology
University of Massachusetts at Boston

Janet Currie
250-479-2962

Patric Darby, M.D. [email protected]

Richard DeGrandpre [email protected]
Independent Scholar of Psychiatric Medicine
Author, Ritalin Nation (1999, Norton)

Martin Deppe [email protected]

Mark Dodd MS LMHC CADC
Program Manager for Adolescent & Dual Diagnosis Services
Prairie Ridge Addiction Treatment Services
320 N. Eisenhower Ave.
Mason City, IA 50402
641-424-2391

Michelle Duluc
Attorney at Law
Malaby, Carlisle & Bradley, LLC
150 Broadway, Suite 600
New York, NY 10038
(212) 791-0285

Barry Duncan, Psy.D. [email protected]
Co-Director
Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Author, The Heroic Client, which systematically debunks the myth of diagnosis on scientific grounds, and What's Right With You .

Danielle J. Duperret, PhD, ND, CBT [email protected]

Rebecca Eades, PhD, NCC
Provisional Psychologist
DeLand, Florida

Maureen Eldred [email protected]

Edie Feiste, family member of someone harmed by psychiatric diagnosis
5670 Forest Hill Dr. #103
Clarendon Hills, IL 60514
630-455-5675

Sandra M Feldman PhD [email protected]
Private practice psychologist
9 Calvin Place
Metuchen NJ 08840

Vincent Fish, PhD, MSSW [email protected]
Licensed Psychologist
Lecturer, University of Wisconsin, Department of Counseling Psychology
700 Rayovac Drive, Suite 220
Madison, Wisconsin 53711
608-276-9191

Larry Foard [email protected]
15 Hartford St.
San Francisco CA 94114

Rosalind Folman, Ph.D. [email protected]

Leonard Roy Frank, psychiatric survivor and editor of Random House Webster's Quotationary (1998)
2300 Webster St., #603
San Francisco, CA 94115
415-922-3029

Anne Rochon Ford
Coordinator, Women and Health Protection Working Group.
Toronto, Canada.

Jacquelyn M. Foster
Attorney
Los Angeles, CA

Susan Froetschel [email protected]
Mother of son who was harmed by psychiatric diagnosis

Vicky Gaines at [email protected]
Hagerstown, MD
Has been harmed by being diagnosed

Professor Kenneth Gergen, Swarthmore College
Co-author of "Is Diagnosis a Disaster?" In F. Kaslow (Ed.) Relational
Diagnosis, Wiley, 1996

Pam Gibson, Ph.D., [email protected]
Psychology Professor, James Madison University

Marilyn Gill
San Diego, CA
253-970-3867

Diana M. Gonzalez, court interpreter
PO Box 6374
Laredo, TX 78042

James Gottstein, attorney
Anchorage, AK

Stella Hackney-Farias
2701 s. 224th Apt E-104
Des Moines, WA 98198
(206) 878-4105

Wilton Hall [email protected]
Co-founder of the Freedom Center and staffmember of The Icarus Project

Don Harden [email protected]

Dr.David Healy [email protected]
Professor of Psychiatry, Cardiff University, Wales
author of The Antidepressant Era, Harvard University Press
Let Them Eat Prozac, New York University Press

Christopher Heimarck [email protected]

Nancy Henley, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor Emerita (Psychology)
University of California, Los Angeles

Karen Henninger [email protected]
Maxatawny, PA

Dennis Hinger [email protected]

Carolyn Hodson [email protected]
8 Hurdon Street, New Plymouth, New Zealand
phone (00 64) 06 753 4779

Paige Hodson
903 W. Northern Lights Blvd., Suite 220
Anchorage, AK 99503
907 229-1734
www.custodyprepformoms.org

Linda Janet Holmes, Independent Scholar
Trenton, NJ

Linda Hurcombe [email protected]
Author, Losing a Child: Explorations in Grief

Ruth Indeck
Jersey City, NJ

Delores Jankovich, M.A.
Mental health professional and mother of son who was harmed by psychiatric diagnosis.
Overland Park, KS
(913) 648-6640

Justin M. Joffe [email protected]
Professor of Psychology
University of Vermont

Erik Johnson [email protected]
470 Plumb lane suite 215
Reno NV 89502

Edward Kaitz [email protected]
Catonsville, MD
An individual, who has been the subject of what he feels is incompetent
psychiatric labeling

Ellen Kaplan, Ph.D. [email protected]
Associate Professor, Theater Department
Smith College
Northampton, MA
Co-editor of forthcoming book, Must Not Unwatched Go:
Transforming Perceptions of Mental Illness in Theatrical Representation

Michael Koran M.A., University of Chicago [email protected]
Cambridge (MA) Center for Adult Education

Jean Philippe LABREZE [email protected]
Medical Doctor

June Larkin, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Women's Studies, University of Toronto

Janie Lee [email protected]

Katherine Leffel [email protected]

Prof. Brenda LeFrançois
School of Social Work
Laurentian University
Ramsey Lake Rd
Sudbury, Ontario
P3E 2C6
(705) 675-1151 ext. 5064

N.S.Lehrman, M.D. [email protected]
Former Clinical Director, Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, Brooklyn NY; One time Chairman, Task Force on Religion and Mental Health, Commission on Synagogue Relations, New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.
10 Nob Hill Gate, Roslyn NY 11576; 516/626-0238

Hannah Lerman
Feminist psychologist and author.
P O Box 28339
Las Vegas, NV 89126-2339
(702) 262-9581

Roxana Llerena-Quinn, Ph.D. [email protected]
Program Manager on Multicultural Issues in Harvard Medical School curriculum
Teaches Cultural Competence in the Department of Social Medicine.
Co-director, Latino Team, Department of Outpatient Psychiatry,
Children's Hospital in Boston
Clinical Instructor, Harvard Medical School.

Peggy Lorah, D. Ed., NCC, LPC
Director, Center for Women Students
The Pennsylvania State University
135 Boucke Building
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-2027
http://www.sa.psu.edu/cws

Bernice Lott, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita
Department of Psychology
University of Rhode Island

Oliver Lu [email protected]
2114 Oregon Pike
Lancaster, PA 17601-4605

Helen Lynn, had family members harmed by diagnosis
[email protected]

Michael Mahoney [email protected]
CEO, Society for Constructivism in the Human Sciences
author, Human Change Processes

Trina Mascott, author.
Palm Desert, California

Jeffrey Masson, Ph.D., psychoanalyst, author, and former director of the Freud Archives
P.O. Box 25930, St. Heliers
Auckland, New Zealand
6495752221

Kathy A. McCloskey
Clinical Psychologist, Psy.D., ABPP
Research Psychologist, Ph.D., CPE
Associate Professor
University of Hartford
Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology
Hartford, CT 06105
(860) 541-1680

Dr Kwame McKenzie BM MRCPsych [email protected]
Senior Lecturer in Cultural Psychiatry
Royal Free and University College London Medical School

Sarah McSweeney,Psy.D.
Psychologist
Lexington, MA

Tina Minkowitz J.D.,
co-chairperson of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry.

Linda Misek-Falkoff, Ph.D., J.D. l.d.misek-falkoff at [email protected]
President, The National Disability Party
Member, The International Disability Convention Caucus and of UN. NGO Fall DPI Summit Planning Committee
Founding Board Member, The Alliance for Rights in Medicine

Marina Morrow, PhD, Research Associate
BC Centre of Excellence for Women's Health
BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre
Vancouver, BC V6H 3N1 Canada
(604) 875-2189

Wendy Murphy, J.D., New England School of Law, Boston

L. Nadir

Maryann Napoli
Center for Medical Consumers
130 Macdougal Street
New York, New York 10012-5030
(212) 674-7105

Dolores Nicoll, Psy.D., clinical psychologist [email protected]

James Nordlund [email protected]
Communications Director
Kansas Chapter of National Action Network
901 s.w. Tyler, apt. 111
Topeka, KS 66612

Nola Nordmarken, L.M.F.T.
[email protected]
Pacific Palisades, Calif. 90272

Ellen Noyes [email protected]
803 Townboro Drive
Houston, TX 77062
281-480-9200

John W. O'Grady, LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) [email protected]
817 Livingston Ave.
Albany NY 12206

Geraldine O'Sullivan-Hogan [email protected]

Eleanor Pam, Ph.D. [email protected]
Professor Emerita, City University of New York.
Manhassat, NY

Sue Parry, Ph.D.
518-457-5958

Ann Petersen [email protected]

Susan Phipps
P.O. Box 32386
Juneau, AK 99803

Marilyn Welton Pinkstaff
918-538-2271 Home

Gayle E. Pitman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychology
Sacramento City College
3835 Freeport Boulevard
Sacramento, CA 95822
(916) 558-2154

Jeffrey Poland, Ph.D. [email protected]
Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Science, Rhode Island School of Design

Dianne Post, MA (Psychology) [email protected]
Attorney
Coordinator, Phoenix (AZ) Women Take Back the Night

Wesley Profit, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and J.D
Los Angeles, CA

Kathryn Quina, Ph.D.,[email protected]
Professor of Psychology & Women's Studies,
University of Rhode Island

Linda Quinet [email protected]
Mother of child who was harmed by psychiatric diagnosis

Professor Jonathan D. Raskin, Ph.D. [email protected]
Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator
Department of Psychology
State University of New York at New Paltz
75 South Manheim Blvd., Suite 6
New Paltz, NY 12561-2440

Carl Ratner, PhD. [email protected]
Institute for Cultural Research & Education
Trinidad, CA 95570

Lauren Craig Redmond, Esq. [email protected]
Attorney
423 Brookline Ave., #277
Boston, MA 02215-5410

Marthinus J. Riekert [email protected]
44 Meadow Lane
Weybridge, Vermont, 057523

Eric Riss, Ph.D.
Director, Natural Psychotherapy International
Licensed Psychologist, NY, NJ

Roberta Robbins
(253) 445-2850

Sally Rogow [email protected]

John Rose MA LMFT [email protected]
Private Practice
Fredericksburg, PA 17026

Michael E. Rupp [email protected]

John Ryan [email protected]
Las Cruces, New Mexico

Thomas J. Scheff, Professor Emeritus
Dept of Sociology, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA. 93106
805 893 3510
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/scheff

Charlotte Schwab, Ph. D.
(561) 638-4757
www.drcharlotteschwab.com

Barbara Seaman [email protected]
Co-founder of the National Women's Health Network
Author of The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women: Exploding the Estrogen Myth.
110 West End Ave NY, NY 10023

Jason A. Seidel, Psy.D. [email protected]

Kathleen Seidel, Head of [email protected]
http://www.neurodiversity.com: a comprehensive index of information about autism, other developmental and learning disabilities, and related topics. Seidel also serves as an advocate for autistic citizens, especially their human rights issues.

Lois Shawver , Ph.D. [email protected]
Clinical psychologist
Expert witness about women in male prisons and gays in the military
Author, And the Flag Was Still There

Judene Shelley, MPH
Wenham, MA

Robert Shetterly, Artist
Brooksville, Maine

Rachel Josefowitz Siegel, M.S.W., clinical social worker
11 Spruce Lane
Ithaca, NY, 14850

Sharon L. Siegel, PhD/LMFT
Psychotherapist, Private Practice
Los Angeles, California
and
Mental Health Specialist
South Central Health and Rehabilitation Programs
Los Angeles, California

Phyllis R. Silverman, Ph.D. [email protected]
Scholar in residence at the Brandeis University Women's Research Center
Professor Emerita at the MGH Institute of Health Professions

Rabbi Susan Silverman
Brookline, MA

Dr. Philip Sinaikin [email protected]
265 N. Causeway
New Smyrna Beach, Florida 32169.

Michael Skinner
141 English Village Rd. # 11
Manchester, NH 03102
www.mskinnermusic.com/mskinner.html
Quotation from his website in regard to his diagnosis of PTSD:
"Mental Illness is a challenge to be taken on, not a definition of who or what a person is. The stigma, which can be just as damaging as the illness in its isolation, is one that Skinner wants to actively speak out against."

Tod Sloan, Ph.D.
Dept of Counseling Psychology
Lewis and Clark College
[email protected]
"The practice of psychiatric diagnosis needs to be reviewed thoroughly by
the representatives of the American people because, although it is
understood as part of a complex process of helping and treatment, it is
also an exercise of administrative power over a person's life and can have
multiple consequences in the domains of human rights and
self-determination."

Lisa Smee
Connecticut College
New London, CT

Clover Smith
P.O. Box 116
Ignacio CO 81163-0116
http:// www.escapefrompsychiatry.org

Dan Smith [email protected]
A practicing therapist, graduate school educator, and Ph.D. candidate in counselor education at the University at Buffalo (SUNY).

Jacqueline Sparks, Ph.D. [email protected]
Assistant Professor of Family Therapy
University of Rhode Island
2 Lower College Rd.
Kingston, RI 02881

Roberta F. Sprague [email protected]
1991-2004 Co-founder and Executive Director of nonprofit IMPEL Individual/Family Growth, Inc., Battle Creek, MI.
2004 Founder of A New Day, Battle Creek, MI; Status: Currently being established as a nonprofit.
311 N. 30th St., Springfield, MI 49015
269-965-3702

Emily J. Caplan Stephenson, J.D., Attorney
Alexandria, VA

Jamaal A. Stephenson M.A
Alexandria, VA

Steven Stosny, Ph.D. [email protected]
Founder of CompassionPower
CompassionPower offers programs in emotional regulation for a variety of behavioral, relationship, and emotional problems.
Germantown, Maryland

Jane Strauss, JD [email protected]
Minneapolis, MN

Fred A Tenzer [email protected]

Ron Thompson [email protected]
Fairfax, VA

Leonore Tiefer, PhD
Clinical Psychologist
New York City

Ron Thompson [email protected]
Fairfax, VA

A. Lloyd Tippett [email protected]

Cindy Vitto [email protected]
M.A., Clinical/Community Psychology
Student of neurofeedback

Robin von Breton [email protected]
High School Teacher
San Francisco, CA

Susan J. Waldman, retired executive secretary
Randolph, NJ 07869
973 895 2218

Dave Walker, Ph.D.
Ani'sahoni Consulting Services
608 Superior Lane
Yakima, WA 98902
509-895-6454
www.anisahoni.com

Dr. Lenore E. Walker
Licensed Psychologist
3595 Sheridan Street, Suite #105
Hollywood, FL 33021
954-322-0348
Professor
Nova Southeastern University
Center for Psychological Studies
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314
Author, The Battered Woman

Joyce Warshow
Psychotherapist and award-winning filmmaker.
New York, NY

Jay Watts [email protected]
Trainee clinical psychologist and ex- service user

Dr. Avrom Weinberg, Ph.D., Humanistic Clinical Psychologist
222 Oak Street
Marshfield, MA 02050-6229
781-837-1870 or 888-738-1870

Michael H. (Mickey) Weinberg, MSW [email protected]

Don Weitz [email protected]

Scott Williams, Psy.D. [email protected]
630-792-5166

Cynthia Wilson [email protected]
PO Box T
White Sulphur Springs, MT 59645

Ralph Wilson, N.D. [email protected]
5225 Wisconsin Ave., NW #401
Washington, D.C. 20015
202-237-7000, ext. 127

Rich Winkel [email protected]

Phil Winn [email protected]

Bob Woerner [email protected]

Stephen E. Wong, Ph.D., BCBA [email protected]
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Florida International University
University Park Campus, HLS Bldg., Rm. 364
Miami, FL 33199
305-348-5224

David Wooledge
Erie, PA
814-459-0741

Vonne Worth [email protected]
Former publisher of Different Times, disability rights newspaper. Currently coordinator of MindShield and MindSolidarity, projects of MindFreedom, which is a project of Support Coalition International.

Louis Wynne, Ph.D. [email protected]
Albuquerque, NM
505-280-4400 Author, recent article in Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry

Robin Yeamans, attorney [email protected]
Family Law and Appellate Law Specialist (certified by the CA State Bar Board of Specialization Practiced 35 years since graduating from Stanford Law School.
20480 Blauer Dr. #C, Saratoga CA 95070

Jasen Zaejian, Ph.D.
New York, N.Y. Website http://members.authorsguild.net/jasenn is dedicated to uncovering the true nature of the Psychiatric-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex (PPIC).

Deanna Beech
Chair & Treasurer, Trauma Resilience and Social Reintegration Action Committee email: [email protected]

Dr. Robert Anderson
Tauranga, New Zealand

Gerald L. "Moss" Bliss, D.D.
23 Grove St., Apt. B-3, Asheville, NC 28801-3230
(828) 254-7449
I had been on some psychiatric drug or other from the age of 12 until I found alternatives and took myself off the drugs November 2003. I manage two local support groups, NAMI CARE and Recovery, Inc., and also manage several Yahoogroups, including ALT-therapies4bipolar and Pagans In Crisis. You can find what I have been doing, and recommending, in place of drugs by clicking the Mental Health link on my website, http://moss.witchesgathering.com

Ani'sahoni Consulting Services, PLLC
Yakama Nation
60 East Pioneer Street, Harrah, WA 98933 509-307-0967
Thanks, Paula, and all your helpers for putting this issue forward so firmly and for the beautiful website. Yachu'nal (yi-chew-nal; 'courage')

Gary Bell   [email protected]
2309 W. 127th st. Leawood KS 66209
"Psychiatry is trolling for patients in a public school near you".

Patrice L. Donnelly
1810A York Road #199 Lutherville MD 21093 (410) 628-2998
As a soon-to-be law student, I am concerned about the practice of upcoding by psychologists, even when done with compassion towards the client, in hopes of obtaining services otherwise not available through insurance claims. I am also concerned about misdiagnosis and malpractice.

Bob Metcalfe
653 Pape Avenue Toronto Ontario M4K-3S2 Canada
Psychotherapist

Louise Bouta
4003 Pillsbury Avenue Minneapolis MN 55409 612-823-8249
I was taken from my home in 1955 because i was not compliant enough to my husband's wishes, did not work hard enough taking care of four small children, baking all the bread needed, growing and canning all all the vegetables, canning all the fruit. Also, I painted the inside of the house in the winter because my husband, a farmer, could not help with the children in the summer. The paint fumes, added to farm pesticides and herbicides caused or exacerbated my depression. Most of all, I did not complain about the work but about the lack of stimulation. I did not get a chance to go to town nor to talk to people.

Janet Carnegie
School of Public Health
La Trobe University  Bundoora  Victoria  3086  Australia  +61 3 9479 1739  I am currently completing my PhD examining diagnostic issues in dual diagnosis (A&D and Depression/anxiety) in women. The results of pathologization of everyday behaviour, and the categorical imperative(as I call diagnosis), has had a huge impact on the informants to my my qualitative study. I am very pleased to see that this issue is now being discussed in a number of forums around the world. Let's hope it has impact where it counts, on powerful medical/psychological/government sponsored beauracracies with the $$$ to appropriate to best practice"treatment" for specific DRGs. 

Debbie Whittle
399 West Rd. Alford MA 01266 USA 413-528-0241

Lawrence Plumlee, M.D.
5717 Beech Ave. Bethesda MD 20817 usa 301 897 9614

K, Seay
Canada

Susan Weimer
162 Sanders Road Apartment #6 Buffalo New York 14216 USA (716) 876-4284
I am a NYS Licensed Social Worker, employed by the NYS OMH, for 18 years, during which I have repeatedly observed the nature and extent of harm endured by a countless number of individuals who have suffered solely because of being given a psychiatric label. Susan L Weimer My E-mail address is: [email protected]

Cecile Lawrence
14 Alpine Drive Apalachin New York 13732 USA
With regard to psychiatry, allopathic medicine is bizarre and mindless. I refuse to participate.

Sarah West
520 5th St. SE Minneapolis MN 55414 USA

Kate Halliday, LCSW
122 West Court Street Ithaca NY 14850 USA 607-279-5439

Ken Davis
6 Illabunda Cr KOONAWARRA NSW 2530 AU 612 4261 3239
As a CFS sufferer, I am sick of the shoddy science and psychiatrisation of a biological illness.

Ramo Kabbani
UK
I have been damaged by both psychiatric labels and treatments. It's beyond belief that in this day and age when we are supposed to live in a civilised society, dangerous drugs can be prescribed for 'conditions' marketed on the basis of interesting theories for which, unlike physical illnesses, there is no real scientific evidence to back them up and that this information is being misrepresented as fact to vulnerable individuals. Vulnerable people are being misled as normal emotions are being medicalised for profit and greed. There are too many vested interests at too many levels and drug regulators are failing in their duties to protect the public. An urgent investigation is required into how such fraud can be allowed to take place, on such a large scale, as this amounts to nothing less than criminal experimentation and a breach in individuals' human rights.

Sally Clay
220 Moon Glow Avenue Lake Placid Florida 33852 USA 863-465-8150
Editor, "On Our Own, Together: Peer Programs for People with Mental Illness"

Darby Penney
30 Besch Ave. #2 Albany NY 12209 USA (518) 465-8548
I'm a psychiatric survivor, former Director of Recipient Affairs at the New York State Office of Mental Health, and a researcher on the history of psychiatry from the patients' perspective. I oversaw a project which collected 200 oral histories of people with psychiatric histories in New York, and almost all of these stories demonstrate the harm done to people by psychiatric diagnosis. I'm currently working on a book exploring the life stories of 12 people who were committed to a state hospital in upstate NY from the late 19th-mid-20th centuries, people whose lives were essentially taken from them by psychiatry. This is an outgrowth of a museum exhibit which told these people's stories from items found in their long-abandoned suitcases.

Louise Amstrong
1130 NW12 Avenue Portland Oregon 97209 US 503-295-4101
Author of And They Call it Help, The Psychiatric Policing of America' Children, as well as numerous essays, articles, etc. on the pathologizing of women and children.

Alice Wells
9720 Hwy 24 West PO Box 189 Green Mountain Falls CO 80819 USA
I was horribly damaged by a psychologist in San Antonio TX who viciously lied about me and had my son taken from me as he claimed I would murder him. This was right after I got sick with an autoimmune disorder. This only added to my extreme pain and damaged my immune system further. These people have way too much power over the lives of others and there are no controls in place to protect the innocent. Many of them have deep seated problems which is what prompts them to go into this area in the first place. I have a deep distrust and I must admit hatred for psychologists and psychiatrists due to this. I constantly try to warn others and some listen to me. However, these people should be regulated from the top which isn't happening now. He said I have a border line personality diagnosis and had no recognition for the fact that I have lupus and/or CFIDS which is another unrecognized illness by doctors. Its no wonder the American public and other countries have turned to alternative medicine as much as possible. Please do something about this nightmare situation. My life was ruined not helped by psychologists, Alice

Shirley Willett
19 Briggs Street Quincy MA 02170 USA 617 479 0109
Hospitalized against my will for emotional intensities harmful to no one, not even myself. I've had three corporations, but these psychiatric diaganoses almost ruined me. I have succeeded in fighting the psychiatric and drug establishment for my sanity There's more details if you want them.

Sandy Weinberg
Noord Brabant 5684 TP Netherlands

Kate Duprey
South Carolina United States
I am a journalist and medical ethics researcher. Areas of study include the biopsychosocial movements' attempts to integrate psychiatric evaluation into all medical situations. Ethical questions relating to the subsumation of organic illness into listings of functional somatic disorders, as well as the ethics of forced psychiatric treatment. Articles in medical journals regarding functional somatic syndromes list such entities as: multiple chemical hypersensitivity, sick building syndrome, repetition stress injury, chronic whiplash, chronic Lyme disease, the side effects of silicone breast implants, candidiasis sensitivity, Gulf War syndrome, mitral valve prolapse, hypoglycemia, fainting, menstrual problems, headache, dizziness, palpitations, food allergies, vitamin deficiency, factitious disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, temporomandibular joint syndrome, tinnitus, atypical chest pain, chronic pain, hyperventilation, dyspnea, irritable bowel syndrome, pelvic pain, premenstrual syndrome, low back pain, pseudoseizures, closed head injury, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, autism, adhd, and migraine, Forums where discussion of Functional Somatic Disorders, is taking place: public health cost and allocation, evidence-based medicine, backlash against medical specialists, and combining the fields of psychiatry and neurology, and reclassification of ICD and DSM coding. "Those who cannot be fitted into a scheme of objective bodily illness yet refuse to be placed into and accept the stigma of mental illness remain the undeserving sick of our society and our health service." Dr. Michael Sharpe Lecture University of Strathclyde October 1999 Requests for a list of research articles addressing functional somatic syndromes (FSS) should be sent to [email protected]

Lauren Bans
140 E 92nd St Apt 2S New York NY 10128 USA

Lauretta Lowell
114 West Sixth Street Delta Colorado 81416 USA
The problem has been so vast that it is difficult to put into words how being diagnosed with a psychiatric condition when there was really a basic madical condition at a young age involved had altered my life radically. Stigma build into the very attitudes of the media and thus many citizens of this country have place a heaavey burden on me and countless others. Lauretta Lowell

Allan I. Jacob, M.D.
536 West 47th Street Miami Beach FL 33140 USA 305 588 9971
As a Board certified Interninst and Neprhologist, I know a disaese when I see it and most so-called psychological disorders are simply clinical sounding and rather thin descriptions of problems that bear no resemblence to a disease as defined by medicine. Successful therapy is a function of the client's unique situation and therefore is not enhanced by terms that generalize. To paraphrase a coomon quote "Show me the evidence" that a disease exists, not simply that a brain lights up on a scan when a client thinks certain thoughts.

Sue Waddle
18, Claremont Gardens, Purbrook Waterlooville Hampshire PO7 5LL England 023 92 252365

Denise Fletcher, consumer/survivor/advocate
Minnesota e-mail: [email protected]

Alan "Mickey" Shipley
1825 Mission Street #333 San Francisco CA. 94103-3539 United States of America 415-255-3153
Consumer Activist

diana gonzalez
p.o.b ox 6374 laredo texas 78042 u.s.a. 956-206-9281

Tracey A. Miller
Valencia PA 16059 USA
I was misdiagnosed bipolar 21 yrs ago. I have been on every psych drug, including ECT treatments, hospitilized 14 times, and addicted to Ativan. I have spent 2 yrs w/d from all the drugs. My life has been ruined by a diagnosis and drugs, losing my children.

Jasenn Zaejian, Ph.D.
New York

Barye Bluth MS
8 Navajo Avenue B Manitou Springs CO 80829 USA 719-630-6440-4047

Laurel Gregg
1211 11th Street Reedley California 93654 USA 559-637-4297

Sue Clark
Ottawa, Ontario K2B 5E7 Canada 613-721-1833
I was given 7 different psychiatric labels from 1972 to 1990. This harmed me and I don't believe in psychiatric labels, and I do not believe in mental illness because there is no proof it exists, mental illness that is.

Karen Friedmann
Cherry Valley Road Columbia CT 06237 USA
MSW, LCSW, 15+years working w/those diagnosed w/severe mental illness. What's changed since the Chestnut Lodge case and the DSM-III. Clinicians are very confused and people are being labeled. The APA is in the pocket of the drug companies. Start where the money is: look at the drug-company sponsored "scientific evidence."

roberta diaz-cobb
5379 seymour rd swartz-creek mi 48473 US 1-810-630-8067
ZOLOFT almost killed my son. He is in the 6th month of cold turkey withdrawl and still has lots of problems. We are trying to detox that garbage out of him. He is just turned 16. My motto. FEAR THE GOV,FEAR THE FDA,FEAR YOUR Dr. REASEARH,REASEARCH,REASEARCH for your self. Blind faith will KILL you

Catherine Creel
Vermont 05201 USA
My interest goes one step further into the pseudo-medicines prescribed for people labeled with psychiatric diagnoses. Where once, the majority of people seeking help did so for enotional problems, people are now being labeled with 'mental illness' when the problem is purely physiological. We've reached a point of crisis in the dietary habits of North Americans, , the air we breathe, the water we drink, the chemicals in our environment and foods, and the sheer amount of pharmaceutical drugs we wiullingly consume. All these problems conspire to make a person ill. It just so happens that the first symptoms of this lifestyle tend to be viewed as emotional; therefore, people are considered to be 'mentally ill' when in fact, they are physically ill. As long as we ignore the root of the problem, the pharmaceutical industry will be able to capitalize on our ignorance. Some day, these so-called 'medicines' will be known as one of the biggest hoaxes of the century.

Laura Borst
10727 Holly Springs Houston Texas 77042 United States 713-781-1588
Psychiatric diagnosis has historically been used to suppress dissent, such as by the Soviet Communist government, among other repressive states.

David Vernola
2499 N Seward Meridian Pkwy. Wasilla Ak 99654 usa [email protected]
PTSD. Cause Vietnam. Educate young men an environment antithetical to the one they have been raised in and they will most likely not react as most others due. Hate them, shun them, blame them for their necessary actions and the problems get worse.

Richard H. Gilluly
81 Conz St., Apt. 307 POB 1152 Northampton MA 01601 USA

Karen M. Campbell / CFSfacts.org
1508 24th Street Sacramento CA 95816 USA 916-448-3840
My boss and I had similar symptoms, but mine were much worse. He was sent all over the state for additional tests; I was told I resented my husband "making me work" and told the doctor wouldn't stand up to him for me. Because I was a woman, I was anxiety-ridden and depressed and assumed to have no interest in working. I had all the physical hallmarks of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but the male chauvinist doctor couldn't see beyond his notion that all women have a secret desire to be unemployed housewives. 15 years later, a much younger male doctor reached the same conclusion -- all the doctors who'd made and re-confirmed the CFS diagnosis were wrong, and only his fictional "long history of depression" was right. He cost me my Disability benefits, on the notion that I am non-compliant with anti-depressant medication because I don't want to go back to work, and therefore lying about the violent adverse effects that these unneeded medications cause. Although the SSDI psychiatrists have repeatedly ruled out depression and noted me to be "euthymic", the judge concurs with this one aberrant doctor that I refuse treatment/counseling so I won't have to go back to work, and ignores even his own experts who say that there is absolutely no sign of depression. As the medical evidence continues to mount, including abnormal blood tests pointing to viral infection of the heart muscle (research has documented this in advanced CFS), the judge continues to cling to the notion that a good shrink could cure me of my "psychosomatic" complaints, if only I weren't so resistant to getting well and going back to work. What they don't get is that I have repeatedly tried to work for a few days and despite my enthusiasm (and outright joy at being back in the job I loved) the attempt put me back in relapse; I've lost jobs for trying to tough it out when I'm in no condition to work, which is a far cry from the misguided notion that I would "forget to be sick" if I had a job to take my mind off my problems.

matthew daly
205 beechgrove lawns, monaghan town, co. monaghan, ireland. 047 77910
my wife suffers from so-called manic-depression and i am very anti mainstream psychiatry. I hate their brain disabling treatments.

Candice Botner
WA USA

Allen Ivey
8877 Bloomfield Blvd. Sarasota FL 34238 USE
Poverty and low income are closely related to diagnosis. This is an issue that needs special exploration.

Michael Bilson

543 Lincoln Street, Apt 34

Manchester, NH  03104-4964

(603) 623-3706

[email protected] 

Society’s use of psychiatry as a tool of direct and indirect social control in order to preserve unjust societal constructs must cease.  A healthy society’s unity lies in its diversity.